It's tough being a consumer of entertainment these days. Pay $15 for the book or $9 to see the movie? Read the book first before seeing the movie adaptation, or wait until after? It's a toss-up in terms of quality, but one thing is sure: for the quantity of sales revenue in a book-to-movie crossover, the sky's the limit.
Last weekend, five of the top 10 moneymakers at the box office were based on novels. In turn, these novels are selling big, regardless of how long ago they were released. One such adaptation is the Civil War romance "Cold Mountain," based on the book by Charles Frazier.
Prompted by the release of the film this past holiday season, the novel has been back on the New York Times Best Seller List for the past 27 weeks (at number seven currently), having won the National Book Award upon its first printing in 1997. Even after seven years in circulation, "Cold Mountain" stands strong at number three on the Trade Paper list of most popular books sold at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Georgetown.
Writer-director Anthony Minghella - who adapted Michael Ondaatje's "The English Patient" into a successful, Oscar-winning movie - acquired the rights to Frazier's novel and filmed in the late summer of 2002 in Romania, whose landscape doubled for the wilderness of North Carolina.
But despite its all-star cast and high value, "Cold Mountain" has yet to recoup its expenses. It was made for $83 million, according to the Internet Movie Database, and has made $65 million at the box office in five weeks of release. Over last weekend, it grossed $7 million and was number six in receipts, with the decidedly non-literary "Along Came Polly" occupying the top spot.
Critical attention might boost the film's ticket sales. Reception for the film has been mostly favorable, with "Cold Mountain" receiving a 75 percent approval rating from 165 nationwide critics on rottentomatoes.com.
"That the film 'Cold Mountain' is so much better than the best-selling Charles Frazier novel makes it quite the rare thing," wrote John Anderson in Newsday.
James Berardinelli of ReelViews called it a "successful adaptation" and Paul Clinton of CNN said that Minghella "once again has achieved the miracle of transforming a difficult book with an inner narrative into a deeply satisfying film."
But not everyone agrees with all the attention "Cold Mountain" is receiving. Senior Matt Bindent called the film as "frigid as its name suggests, and the only saving grace is Ren?e Zellweger." Coincidentally (or maybe not), Zellweger's next film is also an adaptation of a beloved book: the sequel to "Bridget Jones's Diary," Helen Fielding's best seller from England.
Even before it was released Christmas Day 2003, "Cold Mountain" was nominated for eight Golden Globes, the most of any film, including best drama, best screenplay and best actress for Nicole Kidman (who won an Oscar last year for her role as novelist Virginia Woolf in the adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Hours"). A couple wins at the Golden Globes ceremony on Jan. 29 could help pull "Cold Mountain" out of the red.
AU literature and cinema studies professor Jeffrey Middents views these literary adaptations as presitigious because of the timing of their release and the pedigree of the source material.
"They tend to be heavier topics the audience is more willing to swallow," Middents said of the films. "And this is why we see these films coming out right around Oscar season."
The other four nominees for the best drama Golden Globe were also adaptations of high-profile books. This is not a surprise for Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films Releasing.
"There is a fertile market today to turn books into movies," Ortenberg said. "We are always looking for good stories, and what better place to look than a good book?"
The Globe nominees include Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit," which spent over a year on The New York Times Best Seller List before grossing more than $120 million as a film after it opened last summer. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" was adapted from a series of Patrick O'Brian novels, "Mystic River" from the book by Dennis Lehane and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" from the trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
With Tolkien's trilogy, the issue of creative fidelity comes into play. Will the movie adaptation of the book remain true to the author's ideas and ideals, and will its extensive and devoted fan base approve?
"Lord of the Rings" fan and literature professor Larissa Tracy said that "even though the film is not word for word from the book, it is faithful to Tolkien's work."
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" boasts a 96 percent approval rating from 199 critics on rottentomatoes.com and fan-based reception has been very positive. The movie-going public voted "The Return of the King" number four on the Internet Movie Database's list of the 250 best films ever made, behind the two "Godfather" films and "The Shawshank Redemption," also literary adaptations. All three "Lord of the Rings" movies are in the top 10.
Although AU graduate Nick Mansor likes the books better than the films, he added that the movie has not ruined the book since it "takes the main ideas of the books and helps you visualize it."
"'Lord of the Rings' tells the timeless story of camaraderie best," said sophomore Marjorie Korn. She added that she is not interested in reading the books because she believes that "only the movies can add a dimension that words cannot."
Another popular book recently released as a film is "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Based on the book by Tracy Chevalier, it stars Scarlett Johansson and concerns the life of the artist Johannes Vermeer in the 17th century. The book comes in at number 19 on the Barnes and Noble Trade Paper list and 21 on The New York Times Best Seller List, even three years after its publication, and the film has made $1.3 million.
"The movie is doing extraordinarily well, which is a testament to the film itself and to the passion readers of the book have for it," Ortenberg said of the Lions Gate picture.
Freshman Eliza Benton, who has only read the book, said she would "be interested in seeing how accurate they portrayed the period setting" onscreen.
After the films were released and applauded, both "Cold Mountain" and "Girl with a Pearl Earring" came out with book covers that now feature the movies' stars. This simple tactic ties both book and movie market together in an effort to capitalize on public interest.
"More people will buy tickets to the movie than have bought the book, but people share books in ways they can't share a movie ticket," Ortenberg said.
And even when a film has yet to hit a profit, its theatrical run can prompt a public re-visitation of the book from which it is adapted.
"House of Sand and Fog," starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley, tells the story of a simple property issue that turns into a personal confrontation with tragic results. The film cost $16 million to make and has pulled in only $9.2 million at the box office in six weeks, but Andre Dubus' 1999 novel is back on the New York Times Best Seller List at number 34. The novel "Mystic River" is at number 22 on the list, almost two years after its release. The film adaptation has made $55 million in three months.
While both "House of Sand and Fog" and "Mystic River" are faring well as both books and movie, neither has caused a stir that rivals "The Da Vinci Code." A wildly popular novel released in March 2003, Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 43 weeks and has occupied the number one spot since Nov. 16.
Chakaar Wilson, who works at the Georgetown Barnes and Noble said that their bookstore alone has "sold thousands of copies."
"I would not be surprised if it was turned into a movie since it is a captivating story that reads scene by scene," said senior literature major Lauren Johanson, who read the book over winter break.
Indeed, once a book hits a chord with the American public like "The Da Vinci Code" has, the swift acquirement of movie rights should never be a surprise. Akiva Goldsman and Ron Howard, who made Sylvia Nasar's book "A Beautiful Mind" into a hit movie, are set to write and direct the adaptation, which will hit theaters in 2005.
If the past financial performance of books-turned-movies is any indication, they are sitting on a goldmine. Whatever the critical consensus is in 2005, expect the profits from "The Da Vinci Code" to be nothing short of renascent.
